ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1944)*

Allegedly, this play about a pair of kindly, old aunties who turn out to be ‘benevolent’ Angels of Death is a prime example of a tiny subset of works submitted as ‘straight’ drama only to be revised into riotous hit comedies before reaching the stage.  (Nöel Coward upon hearing laughs for a serious play, ‘My dear, if they laugh it’s a comedy.’)  Other examples include CHICAGO and 20th CENTURY (both transformed by Ben Hecht) and, from the world of film, CAT BALLOU.  However it came about, it makes an unlikely vehicle for Frank Capra (at Warners who’d already bought the rights) looking to make some quick cash before joining the military.  And while the film gets its laughs, it’s a shockingly coarse piece of work, with Capra regressing to the slam-bang comic tone familiar from many B’way comedy transfers at Warners by journeyman directors like Lloyd Bacon & Archie Mayo.*  Cary Grant (in what he claimed his least favorite perf) is all double-takes & broad reactions as the just married nephew terrified by what he finds at his Aunts’ house and what genes he may have inherited.  (Movie censors removed the play’s biggest laugh line when Grant’s character crows with relief ‘I’m a Bastard!’)  As bad guys on the run, Raymond Massey (making like Boris Karloff) & Peter Lorre manage to work against the relentless pace and there’s Capra’s good-luck charm, James Gleason to sort everything out with a third act appearance.  But the show’s famous curtain call that had all the unseen victims march up the cellar stairs to take a bow got lost when Capra was abruptly called up ‘for the duration.’

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  *Filmed in late 1941; copyright date 1942; special military release 1943; General Public release 1944.  Got that? 

READ ALL ABOUT IT:  The play, oft revived on tv & in amateur stagings, has dated, but you can still get a sense of how it once worked in Brooks Atkinson’s original rave review.  https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1941/01/11/85446379.html?pageNumber=13

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT:  *Probably the best of these stage comedy adaptations at Warners was THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER/’41, directed by William Keighley with winning turns in expanded supporting roles by Bette Davis & Ann Sheridan.